Robotic 3dprinting

Idea by

Manuel Jimenez Garcia and Gilles Retsin. With Nagami and Vicente Soler

Design Computation Lab and Nagami

Calle Río Cea, 1, Nave C2, Avila, Spain

Design Computation Lab is a research laboratory at The Bartlett UCL, which focuses on design methods for automation in Architecture. DCL develops computational design methods, software and platforms for a wide range of applications in architecture, design and construction. Nagami is a design brand which explores the future of product design in a new technological era. They use new methods such as large-scale robotic 3dprinting, for the development of furniture and other large scale products.

Call for ideas 2019

New software for robotic spatial 3dprinting

# Construction

New alliances

VoxelChair v1.0 and Ogonori Chaise-longue are the first prototypes designed using a new design software developed explicitly for robotic 3D-Printing. This software introduces a discrete design method to generate complex, non-repetitive toolpaths for spatial extrusion.

This approach allows to define objects as volumetric aggregations, bypassing the use of any surface topology. The complex formal articulation emerges from the combinatorial algorithm, which allows for a differentiated material distribution. The material density and direction can be locally controlled by changing the scale and orientation of the fragments, allowing the graduation of structural strength along the object.

As a test-case to demonstrate the properties of the software, DCL developed VoxelChair 1.0. After performing a structural analysis on the base model (a Panton Chair), four different fragments types were assembled into a 2.36 km continuous toolpath.